Category: Events

After a long layoff, former UFC middleweight standout Dongi “The OX” Yang is back and will face a very durable fighter in Jae Young Kim in the main event of TOP FC’s inaugural show on June 29, 2013 in South Korea.

Yang and Kim are two of the most well-liked middleweights in South Korea. They have the same fighting style – stand and bang. Both guys are capable of knocking anybody out with a single blow.

This is a very intriguing fight as Yang will face a fighter as talented and powerful as he is. Yang’s wrestling and endurance might be the biggest factor for this fight as besides from being famous for his punching power, Yang proved that his endurance and wrestling can keep up with some the best middleweights in the world. But don’t count Jae Young Kim out as he is also dangerous both feet and on the ground. Kim has a very deadly striking game and a descent ground game as he has a 3 submission wins in his career over Hee Seung Kim, Kelvin Fitial and Charles Troglen.

It was a very disappointing night for Team Lakay last Saturday night at the PXC 37 event. It was one of the worst nights for the team. We went home frustrated. Our shoulders were down. There were questions in our minds. We had our hearts broken. We were not victorious.

It could have been a night of the opposite feelings. For most of our fights in the past, we usually go home successful, that even if we have not won all our fights, we have won at least one of the fights and it was a bitter-sweet feeling.

But that night was different. It was difficult. We felt that everything was fallen into pieces. It felt like we let a lot of people down. These were the feelings which we are not used to. Feelings we don’t like to feel.

But as we reach home in Baguio City, the coolness of the breeze seems like eased everything, at least the heat of our head and the pain in our hearts. After a while, we tend to accept everything.

Now, I can talk, I can share; now I can say that’s just part of the game. It was what it was. What has done has been done. We have to move on. We sat down, talked together after the fights and evaluate what had happened. It was different when all has been reviewed and assessed. When everyone has given their words of encouragement, we start to move on again.

Indeed, it was all part of the game. In a competition, especially in sports, it’s either we win or lose. If we win, it’s better, if we lose, we learn. As real and professional fighters, we have to get back on our feet and move on. Fighting is also a learning experience. It happens to every fighter.

As I have said to someone who questioned our performances before, I gave him this answer: “NO great Champion has a perfect or zero-loss record”. They all, at some point in their life, had lost their battles, learned, moved on and became one of the greatest of all time. The important thing is that, we fought, we did our best, we stood up and we move forward, applying what we have learned and become the best with all these lessons.

One thing which is great here is that, it was not just the one who fought who learned, it was the whole team. What one has experienced inside the cage, everybody in the team experienced it with him. The feelings that the fighter felt, the team feels with him (victorious or defeated). Then we all get up together for our future fights.

Now, after all that has happened, with the lessons and challenges we have with us, we have to focus on our upcoming fights in the coming week. First, we have the Philippine National Games, Wushu National Championships on May 27 to June 02, 2013 in Manila, Philippines. Thirteen (13) from Baguio Wushu Sanshou Team and 11 from Benguet Wushu Sanshou Team will be participating in the said event. We all train and prepare them further for the said event, together with their brothers at Team Lakay (mostly also a member of the team), they train with the Champions. This is the development of the grassroots level of the team. The experiences and trainings hone them to be future Wushu and MMA Champions. It is one of the visions of Team Lakay to develop a pool of talented athletes from the Cordillera Administrative Region and the Philippines. This event is also in preparation for the Asian Junior Wushu Championship sometime in August wherein the Philippines is going to be the host country.

Second, on May 31st, Team Lakay will be invading Manila for the biggest MMA event in the Philippines yet, the ONE Fighting Championship: Rise to Power. Five Team Lakay warriors are going to be having their toughest fights of their careers. Honorio “The Rock” Banario will be defending his ONE FC Featherweight title for the first time against Japan’s veteran fighter, Koji Oishi for the main event of the night.

Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon will be facing Masakatsu Ueda for the ONE FC Bantamweight Grand Prix finals wherein the winner will have the chance to fight for the title later on this year.

Eduard “Landslide” Folayang will be fighting against Iranian Kamal Shalorus who is a high-level wrestler who also had fought in the WEC and UFC.

Rey “The Punisher” Docyogen will be going against Japanese Shooto Champion, Yasuhiro Urishitani.

The fifth Team Lakay fighter on this card is Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio. He will be facing off with the american and fighting from Phuket Top Team, Andrew Leone. It’s definitely a big load for them fighting in front of their fellow Filipino fans in their homeland. But it’s not going to be exhausting since they enjoy what they do; it’s their passion fighting either in or outside the country. Instead, it gives them pride and honor to represent the country. Many say the pressure is on them, since hopes and expectations are on their shoulders. But for as long as they’ll do their best, with the aim to be victorious, they know their countrymen will be proud of them. Team Lakay fighters don’t like to let their supporters down. Whenever our fans are watching us fighting, it adds fuel to our fighters to perform at their best and energizes them to showcase their full potential.

The prayers and faith of our fighters, together with that of our countrymen (being a prayerful country) will knock on God’s door and answer them.

With these, we don’t claim that this is our fight alone; this is the fight of the whole nation. So, together with our Team Lakay fighters, we dedicate all these fights to all of our supporters. As early as now, we would like to thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope and pray that we will all succeed come May 31st at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay City, Philippines. Please be there with us and together we will rise to power!

South Korea is undoubtedly one of Asia’s top producers of UFC fighters. With its abundant martial arts history, South Korea is becoming the MMA powerhouse in Asia-Pacific.

South Koreans are extremely skillful in MMA as they grew up with a lot of martial arts in their environment such as Taekwondo, the oldest martial arts in Korea called “Taekkyeon” and Hapkido.

South Korean fighters such as Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim, Chan Sung “The Korean Zombie” Jung, Lim Hyun “The Ace” Gyu, Kyung Ho “Typhoon” Kang and Dongi “The Ox” Yang are responsible for putting their country on the map as one of the world’s top maker of world-class MMA fighters.

Talent-wise, as I’ve mentioned above, Korea is the home of some of the best MMA warriors in the world, but aside from Road FC, the largest MMA promotion in the country, the lack of MMA promotions in South Korea is putting their fighters’ global rise on hold as some of the up and coming guys badly needs exposure before heading to the big leagues.

Yesterday, TOP Fighting Championship (Top FC) was officially launched and will make their inaugural show on 29 June 2013 in Seoul, South Korea.

TOP FC is organized by three gentlemen including Korean Top Team head coach, Dongjin Ha, Yeongjin Gwon and Chanyeol Jeon. The said MMA event will be aired live on FX Korea, Pandora TV and KM Player.

There are several big names that will compete in the first-ever TOP FC card on June 29th.

According to Dngjin Ha, former UFC middleweight standout, Dongi “The Ox” Yang is arguably the biggest name to compete in the said event. Though his opponent is yet to be announced, whenever Yang is fighting, especially in South Korea, expect a lot of Dong Yang fans as he is one of Korea’s most exciting MMA fighters today.

One bout is already confirmed for the opening show of TOP FC as Legend FC vet Yanghae “Hungry” Jun takes on PXC vet Doo Hwan Kim in the light heavyweight division.

Crisanto Pitpitunge failed to defend his title as he was defeated by the skillful Japanese fighter, Michinori Tanaka via Unanimous Decision.

It was a very entertaining fight between Tanaka and Pitpitunge as two of the best bantamweights in Asia gave all they got to entertain the fans.

In the first round, everyone thought that Crisanto will make Tanaka tap as he caught the Japanese submission specialist into a tight rear-naked choke. But Tanaka looked very relaxed while Pitpitunge’s squeezing his neck – that’s how high level grappler Tanaka is. Since that RNC attempt by the former champ, it was all about Tanaka’s wrestling.

Tanaka and his team were very emotional after the fight as they all knew that their labor paid off as they’ll bring the PXC bantamweight belt back home in Japan. In this sport of MMA, each bout can only have one winner and one loser. Getting a victory in this tough sport is no doubt, one of the best thing that has happened to a fighter while losing can put a fighter down emotionally and mentally.

We know the fact that all fighters are looking for that win; we must also know that some captures it, others don’t.

After enduring some rigorous training and exhausting weight cut, Korean Top Team’s Jang Yong Kim is back to his winning ways as he submitted an up and coming fighter from Hawaii, Nate Thorell in the opening round via kimura.

While Kim is celebrating his win against Thorell, his team mate, Hong Seung Chan was at the dugout thinking what went wrong in his game plan as he was defeated by Reno Remigio of Hawaii in the third round by way of TKO (punches). Remigio’s Muay Thai played a big factor on his victory over the South Korean fighter. He is connecting solid knees and razor sharp elbows whenever they are in the clinch position. Also, the take down defense of Remegio helped him get the W for his PXC debut. Though stepping up late to fight Chan, the part Hawaiian-Filipino Remegio showcased his superb striking abilities and left a message to the rest of the lightweight division that he is here to stay.

Fight Works MMA went 2-0 as Rolando Gabriel Dy submits Arex Montalban by way of armbar and Ernesto Montilla Jr. shocked the crowd by taking out Team Lakay’s Jerome Wanawan in the second round. The Laguna-based fight team is going to celebrate its first anniversary on May 27th and getting big wins last night were an early gift for the whole team who struggled to get some sponsorship prior to PXC 37. Someone really needs to support this team financially because the talents over there are exceptional. I predict that FWMMA will be one of the Philippines’ best MMA team in a couple of years.

While Fight Works MMA celebrates their huge victories last night, Team Lakay arguably had their toughest outing so far as they went 0-3. Wanawan faced a much improved Ernesto Montilla last night. Montilla showed speed, power and his excellent endurance. Montilla handed Jerome his second straight losses. Troy Bantiag faced Trevin Jones in a match where most of the fight fans knew he will dominate. But Jones fought smart and took the fight to where Bantiag has his weakness – on the ground. Jones defeated Bantiag via UD. Team Lakay vows to bounce back strong on August 31st as 5 of its best fighters will fight in ONE FC 9 ‘Rise to Power’.